US vs UK

I was hoping maybe some of our readers from the UK could describe what choosing a carrier is like in the UK. Most of the time I see UK residents relieved that their carrier relations aren't like that of the US. Here we have to choose a carrier and then pick from their selection of devices. Over there don't you all buy a device then choose a carrier?

Well I'm obviously not from the U.K., but I don't believe it works that way unless it's an unlocked device. Each carrier carries a line of phones no different than the U.S. I don't believe they get caught up in contracts as much as the U.S. though. Maybe someone from the U.K. can chime in?

The US carriers are largely CDMA. Verizon, Sprint, and literally every other company outside of ATT and T-Mobile use CDMA. What this means is that only certain phones are able to work on their networks. The phones have to be carrier approved basically.

ATT, T-Mobile, and most UK carriers use GSM technology. SIM card technology. Most phone work on their networks and usually the hardest part is just putting your SIM card in a new phone when your done with the old one.

Also UK carriers use contracts a lot less. People are more inclined to buy the device outright and same money in the long long versus being tied down to a two year contract, (three years in Canada)

sim only - you provide the hardware ouitright and a carrier/opperator of your choice provdes the serivice via a sim card in your phone, this can be a pre pay/pay as you go service or a contract service with bundled minutes/sms/data.

pre pay sim cards for various netowrks can be purchased form quite a few shops for as little as £1 or ordered free of charge from the phone network.

Pre pay subsidised, you pay for the phone and its on a pre pay service these phones are often locked to one provider and will only work with the sim card from that provider

contract/subsidised phone, you sign up to a ( typicaly ) 24 month contract deal, in most cases you pay nothing for the handset outright, but pay roughly £35 ( in the case of a high end device) over the period of 24 monthsthese almpost aways come iwht bundled data/minutes/sms etc.

Competion is fierce and carriers will often have offers to attract customers (such as free android tablets etc)

the mian carriers that exist in the UK are ( currently)

3 (three)

O2

Vodafone

T-mobile

Orange

EE

on top of that there are also a load of virtual opperators that by capacity in bulk form the main opperators/carriers.

edit: UK mpobile (cell ) phones have their own dialing prefix, and always start with the number 07 so for example a UK mobile phone number will be 07123456789

further edit

Also UK carriers use contracts a lot less. People are more inclined to buy the device outright

this is only true for low end phones purchased on pay as you go deals ( pre pay) , for the more exensive phones a two year contract is standard.

you can buy a phone outright, unlocked to work on any network, but its not always the cheapest way of doing things

A Samusng Galaxy s4 would cost £35 per month all in on a 24 month contract, coming in at £840

buy it outright, unlocked and it will cost £449 add to that a sim only deal at say £18 per month ( 1 month contract ) will give a price of £881, plus no free gifts

If you want a decent top of the range handset £35 per month is easier to swallow than £450 or so up front.